


The Rumor

by peepeepoopoo33



Category: The Amazing World of Gumball
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Protectiveness, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 16:00:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30041142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peepeepoopoo33/pseuds/peepeepoopoo33
Summary: Masami confronts Darwin in the middle of study hall to address a certain rumor going around about him.... a certain very personal rumor
Relationships: Darwin Watterson & Gumball Watterson
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Haven't even started writing yet and I already hate it.
> 
> TW: Panic attack, trauma, flashbacks, 1 swear word
> 
> Also, I'm aware of how out of character Masami is in this.

Study hall. The class at the end of the day where students just sat there and worked in silence. Mrs. Simian always slept the entire class so many of the students were able to skip without punishment. The students who didn't either had a lot of work and just wanted to get it over with or just felt too guilty to do anything like that.

or had something to ask another student there.

The students staying in were Penny, Molly, Teri, Carman, Alan, Darwin, and Masami.

Masami made her way over to Darwin.

"Hey Darwin"

"Mhm?" Darwin said smiling without looking up from his work.

"There's a rumor going around school that Gumball tried to replace you-" Darwin's eyes grew wide as he accidentally scribbled on his paper out of shock. "Is that true."

Darwin resisted from shivering at the painful memory.

"I- uh- well..." His voice was fragile and weak.

"Well?" Masami asked, losing her patience. "Is it?"

"N-no..." Darwin said quietly as he uncomfortably shifted away from her.

"So it is true!"

Darwin sighed sadly.

"Man, I need the story!"

"What?" Darwin said, his voice getting stronger. He was annoyed and offended at this point.

"I mean, something like that has gotta have a story to it. Come on! Tell me!"

"I'm not telling you the story! The fact that it happened in the first place is already painful enough!" Darwin sighed in an attempt to calm himself down. "Now leave me alone, please."

He looked at Masami with pleading eyes. Unfortunately , she didn't like being told 'no'.

"You're still a pet. You know that, right?"

Any confidence Darwin might've had left him. Darwin looked down at his desk and didn't respond, angering Masami.

"Right???"

Darwin slightly nodded, darting his eyes away from her in an attempt to hide the tears forming in his eyes.

"I bet Gumball could replace you again. I'm surprised he hasn't replaced you already. I mean, I'd do it if I adopted a brat like you."

This truly made Darwin cry, but he tried his best to hide it. Sadly, his best wasn't enough.

"Baby." Masami scoffed.

"Masami, I think you're going a little too far." Alan asked with concern for Darwin.

"Oh, so I'm in the wrong?"

"Obviously! He clearly doesn't want to talk about it!" Penny chimed in.

Masami continued to argue with nearly everyone in the class until Carman spoke up.

"Um, guys, is Darwin ok?"

She pointed as Darwin to who was against the corner holding his head choking on his tears. Because of this what Masami said, Darwin ended up experiencing intense flashbacks sending him into a panic attack.

The entire class gathered around him desperately trying to calm him down. 

"Aren't you gonna do anything?" Teri asked Mrs. Simian, (who was now awake due to all the noise) with her hands on her hips.

"Nah, this is too entertaining." She took a sip of her coffe.

Eventually, Penny got an idea. She stepped out of the crowed and pulled out her phone.

2:10

Penny: Gumball, has Darwin ever had a panic attack before?

Gumball: Yea. Why?

Penny: He's having one right now and none of us know how to stop it.

Not even a second after Penny hit send, the door flew open.

"Who did this?" Gumball asked, his voice full of anger.

Everyone pointed at Masami. She looked down, blushing a little.

"It wasn't entirely my fault..."

"Yeah it was." Said the entire class (in unison)

"Well.. he's the one having a panic attack!" 

Gumball walked over to Darwin, glaring at Masami.

"Get out, all of you!" He sternly instructed.

Everyone in the classroom complied. Even Mrs. Simian.

Gumball kneeled next to Darwin and softly stroked his head. 

"Buddy, listen to me, it's ok now. You're safe." 

Darwin's flashbacks faded as he began to process the situation and feel the warmth of his older brother comforting him. He began to calm down.

"There we go. Just take some deep breaths." Darwin did so, causing Gumball to smile.

Gumball wiped his little brothers tears. Without warning, Darwin grabbed onto him and hugged him tightly. Gumball didn't hesitate to hug back.

I guess wiping his tears was useless, because Gumball felt wetness slowly running down his shoulder. It was his favorite sweater, but he didn't care. He pat Darwin's head and for a while they hugged in silence. 

Gumball slowly pulled away, still holding Darwin's arms.

"Everything alright, bro?"

"Mm-mm" Darwin replied with a voice crack as he violently shook his head.

"Awww, buddy..." Gumball muttered as he scooted closer to his little brother and put an arm around him. "What happened?"

Darwin tells Gumball everything that happened. Due to him choking on his tears, he was barely understandable. However, Gumball, knowing and caring about Darwin for nearly his entire life, understood what he was saying perfectly.

Gumball spoke, his voice deep and full of anger. "Why that little-"

The bell rung. The older cat sighed. 

"C'mon, Darwin. We need to go to the bathroom to wash your eyes so no one notices you were crying." He said, once again wiping his tears.

Darwin nodded before Gumball grabbed his hand and walked out of the classroom.

They ended up missing the bus. Neither of them really minded, though. I mean, having to walk home from school is way better than having to sit through an entire bus ride listening to people speculate about why he was crying.

As they walked home, Gumball heard Masami talking. It seemed like she was having a conversation with someone over the phone. Gumball didn't think much of it until he heard what she was saying.

"Yeah, and then he started freaking out and crying all because I asked him about that rumor!"

Gumball froze. Wide mouthed. He was staring at her, nothing but pure anger in his eyes.

"Uh huh. He's just crazy I guess."

"Crazy?" Gumball repeated quietly to himself. 

He looked back at his younger brother, who took a step back as he lowered his head in shame and whimpered.

"Oh, that does it." Gumball muttered at Masami with his hands curled into fists. He looked back at Darwin. "Keep walking without me. I'll deal with her, ok?"

Darwin didn't want anyone to get hurt, but too much had happened to him that day making him too emotionally exhausted to protest. 

His voice broke saying "ok" before running off. 

Gumball marched over to Masami and grabbed her phone right out of her hand and hanging up.

"Hi, is this a new phone?"

"Yeah."

"How much did it cost?"

"My entire allowance."

"Good to know." Gumball said before throwing her phone on the ground and stomping on it. Multiple times.

Masami's facial expression turned from neutral to angry.

"Hey! What was that for!?"

"You know exactly what that was for! You gave my brother a panic attack in the middle of class and now you think you can just gossip about it over the phone?!"

"Well, maybe he shouldn't be so sensitive all the time."

Gumball resisted the urge to slap her across the face as hard as he could.

"He's not that sensitive all the time! It's just- look, that stuff is really personal to him and he doesn't like talking about it." Gumball's voice began to break with sympathy for his brother. "And you... you just forced him to talk about it. I-in class."

Gumball didn't speak for a few seconds, slightly worrying Masami.

"Uh, Gumball-"

"Fuck you." 

Gumball flipped her off and walked away.

He ran back home as fast as he could and found his brother hugging himself on his bed when he got to their room.

"You ok, buddy?"

"Huh? Y-yeah, I fine."

He showed his concerned older brother a weak smile, but Gumball saw right through it.

"If you're gonna lie to me, you're gonna have to try harder than that." Gumball sat next to him. "C'mon, dude, you can talk to me about anything."

Darwin was slightly relived that his brother didn't believe his lie because he couldn't hold himself together any longer. He grabbed onto Gumball and once again, sobbed into his sweater.

Gumball threw his arms up in shock, but he then relaxed and embraced his brother, patting his head.

"G-Gumball this- this is all my fault."

"What?? No! It's Masami's fault! She's the one who pushed you over the edge!"

"I know but... if I wasn't so sensitive..." he hugged Gumball tighter as he bursted into more sobs. "I wish I wasn't so sensitive."

"Woah, woah, ok, you are not too sensitive. It's perfectly normal that you're still upset about... you know. Masami had no right to bother you like that."

"But still... there's- there's a rumor going around about- people are talking about it I just- I just can't handle it!" Darwin began to hyperventilate 

"Woah, woah, woah! Easy there." Gumball gave Darwin head strokes to calm him down. It worked because shortly after he stopped with a few deep breaths. 

Darwin buried his face in his hands and muffled "and now that Masami knows it's true she's gonna tell everyone."

"There there." Gumball rubbed his brothers head. "I'm sure people will understand"

"Gumball, no one cares about my feelings! Everyone just wants to make me cry so that they can laugh at me!"

"No one's gonna make you cry. Not when I have anything to say about it. Besides, trauma is nothing to be embarrassed about-"

"Yeah, easy for you to say."

Gumball sighed and put a hand on the crying fish's shoulder.

"Trauma is nothing to be embarrassed about." He said more sternly. "...but, if it really makes you that upset, we could change schools."

Darwin unburied his face. "Wha- what?"

"I said we can-"

"Yeah, I heard you. I just can't do that! You have so many friends there and I don't wanna take that away from you! Also, it's probably gonna cost a lot of money. I guess I'm just scared... what if they're really mean to me!"

"You know what?" Gumball patted Darwin's head. "I'll be there for you."

"Really?"

"Yea-"

Darwin hugged him again. Gumball shook his head with a smile on his face and hugged back.


	2. Who Started the Rumor?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was intended to be a one-shot, however I feel like a lot of people would be curious on who started the rumor. It won't be getting any more chapters, tho.

Gumball was furious. Determined to find out who started this awful rumor about his brother. Rob and Sarah both found notes in their lockers reading:

"Meet me in Mrs. Simians classroom at recess. It's important."

Both students found themselves tied to a chair with Gumball (who wore a fedora and fancy suit for the heck of it) shining a light in their eyes as if it were an integration room. He shined the light in Robs eyes who winced and squinted at how bright it was.

Gumball: Rob! You love hiding in my room to find weak spots so you can destroy me. Tell me, we're you in my room when DARWIN CONFESSED TO SEEING HIS OWN REPLACEMENT????

Rob: *sighs* Dude, you're my nemesis, not him. Why would messing with Darwin help me take you down? I mean, ruining your friendship? Maybe. But just telling the whole school he's traumatized would just be petty.

Gumball: I mean, yeah, but-

Rob: Besides, I also have abandonment trauma *mutters* that you gave me

Gumball: *pinches the bridge of his nose* ah, darn it... that most perfect sense

Rob: and how is that a bad thing?

Gumball: I was really looking forward to killing you for this. *sigh* ok, Sarah?

Sarah: Well I told people he wasn't replaced.

Gumball: Well then it had to have been- wait, what do you mean you told people he wasn't replaced?

Sarah: I tweeted it on Elmore Plus.

Sarah cleared her throat before reading her tweet out loud.

Sarah: "Darwin Ralgan Caspian Ahab Poseidon Nicodemius Watterson ||| who goes to school with us in Mrs. Simians class was never flushed down the toilet as a child. And if he was, I'm sure Gumball would have enough faith in him to make his way back to wait for him the entire time. P.S, he wasn't replaced." I made it super clear.

Gumball inhaled sharply.

As you might have guessed, Sarah spent the entire rest of the day running from Gumball.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI, no one's gonna care but Sarah's tweet is a reference to Victorious S3:E22. I feel like none of you would pick up on that :(

**Author's Note:**

> Ain't it ironic how Darwin's sensitivity is a sensitive subject for him?


End file.
